


With Many Voices

by thearrogantemu



Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Beleriand, Drabbles, First Age, Fourth Age, Gen, Lindon, Post-Mandos, Pre-Darkening, Responses to Prompts, Second Age, Very Long Conversations, aman - Freeform, and one AU, in Mandos
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-19
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-08-04 14:13:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 42
Words: 4,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thearrogantemu/pseuds/thearrogantemu
Summary: "Send me two characters, and I'll write 100 words from a Very Long Conversation between them."A series of Legendarium drabbles, originally posted to Tumblr. Full list of character prompts in first chapter (Index).





	1. Index

[Finwë and Nerdanel](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38251487)  
[Maedhros and Fingon](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38251553#workskin)  
[Fëanor and Éowyn ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38251604#workskin)  
[Gil-Galad and Elrond ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38251697#workskin)  
[Celebrimbor and Fëanor](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38251790#workskin)  
[Fëanor and Maglor ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38251901#workskin)  
[Maedhros and Morgoth](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38251853#workskin)  
[Sam and Thingol](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38251943#workskin)  
[Lindis and Elrond](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38252003#workskin)   
[Míriel and Maedhros ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38252060#workskin)  
[Míriel Þerindë and Faramir](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38252108#workskin)  
[Maeglin and Maedhros](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38252162#workskin)  
[Finrod and Ar-Pharazôn](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38252201#workskin)  
[Curufin and Celegorm](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38252237#workskin)   
[Celegorm and Huan ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38252282#workskin)  
[Veanne and Maedhros](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38252312#workskin)  
[Berúthiel and Thuringwethil ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38252342#workskin)  
[Celebrimbor and Elrond ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38252375#workskin)  
[Fëanáro and Arafinwë](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38252441#workskin)   
[Fingon and Turgon](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38252501#workskin)  
[Fingon and Finrod ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38252519#workskin)  
[Finrod and Galadriel ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38252549#workskin)  
[Naugwen and Ingwë](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38252645#workskin)  
[Fingolfin and Manwë](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38252711#workskin)  
[Annatar and Curumo](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38252783#workskin)  
[Finwë and Finarfin](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38252852#workskin)  
[Finwë and Thingol](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38252885#workskin)  
[Curufin and Galadriel](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38252936#workskin)   
[Eöl and Aragorn](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38253020#workskin)  
[Fingon and Fëanor](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38253083#workskin)  
[Fëanor and Aredhel](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38253131#workskin)  
[Galadriel and Aredhel](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38253152#workskin)  
[Fingolfin and Maedhros](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38253650#workskin)  
[Aredhel and Idril](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38253701#workskin)  
[Caranthir and Haleth](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38253725#workskin)  
[Aredhel and Elwing](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38253746#workskin)  
[Celebrimbor and Sméagol](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38254952#workskin)  
[Sam and Yavanna](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38254994#workskin)  
[Míriel Therinde and Námo](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38255036#workskin)  
[Fëanor and Maedhros](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38255087#workskin)  
[Celebrían & Gil-galad](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16348241/chapters/38255123#workskin)


	2. Finwë and Nerdanel

The two conversed easily. The young sculptor was not easily discomfited, and the great king had the king’s own art of setting anyone he spoke to at ease.

“I thank you,” Finwë said at last, “for the joy with which you have shielded my son; a glass around the flame so that it gutters not even in the fiercest of winds. Good sooth, it has been long since I have seen him smile more than two breaths together.”

“I knew from the moment I saw him,” Nerdanel agreed, “that here was matter from which I meant to shape my children.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cool it, Nerdanel, he's not a piece of marble.


	3. Maedhros and Fingon

“I mean to complete the work that you began,” said Maedhros. His voice had changed since Aman: deeper and less resonant. “To heal the feud that divides our sundered people. To show the exiled Noldor that there is unity – there is love – between the houses of Finwë’s first and second sons.”

Fingon leaned forward, his eyes alight. “Maitimo, I—"

“What? No, I’m giving the crown to your father. Please do not take this the wrong way, but I speak with the full authority of experience when I assure you that you would be better off bound to Thangorodrim than to me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Fingon. Kind of tempting to do a whole series of these - "Five Times Fingon Proposed and One Time He Was Accepted." One of them had to have been in the run-up to the Nirnaeth Arnoediad... "When I bring you a Silmaril as a wedding-gift, will you have me then?" "Don't even joke about it."


	4. Fëanor and Éowyn

Two hands withering in flame, just as the stories said. She did not turn her eyes away, but her thoughts flared up. That might have been Faramir. Would have been, if not –

“What power has a father’s madness, when the father is gone?” she said to the stone. “It is you who are imprisoned now, not I.”

But those were not Denethor’s hands she saw in the stone, not now. They were graceful, youthful, and they grasped the stone. Fire swirled around them, fire pulsed within them. She seemed to hear a voice.

“Swear it – be he friend or foe…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly this might be worth developing beyond a hundred words. Fëanor and Éowyn might have a lot to say to each other on the subject of flinging yourself and your despair into the face of evil, though messing with palatirs probably isn't going to end well.


	5. Gil-Galad and Elrond

He bent to pick the object up from the tangle of sea-wrack: a child’s toy boat, on which an unsteady hand had carefully inscribed _Rothinzil._ He made no sound, but sank to his knees in the wet sand and remained there as the cold waters lapped at his legs. After a moment Gil-Galad rested a hand on his shoulder.

“Well,” said Elrond in a cold, clotted, distant voice, “at least no fleet in arms will make for us out of the West; we were spared that at least, and so we are happy.”

Gil-Galad’s hand tightened slightly, but he said nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Rothinzil" is of course the Adunaic name of Eärendil's ship.


	6. Celebrimbor and Fëanor

“I have made little of my own since returning,” said his grandson. “It has not been the season.”

Fëanor looked around the studio. The objects in it were the work of many hands – some skilled, some less so – and a dozen different arts: painting, bookbinding, metalwork, textile.

“I’ve been restoring art, instead. Time seizes the works of our hands, even in Aman, since the Trees were extinguished – and there are the objects the Exiles bring back from over the sea. I can’t undo every damage, but there’s a difference between restoring a thing to what it should be, and erasing what happened to it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the idea of Art Conservator Celebrimbor I'm indebted to Sumeria. Celebrimbor will make things of his own again eventually, but right now this is therapeutic. He has a deep and intuitive sense of what can be fixed, and how. People have brought him objects that are little more than a few strands of matter held together with memory, and he's brought them back.


	7. Fëanor and Maglor

He set the ring on the table. “She’s left me. Returned to her family.”

Fëanor looked up, the unforgivable “Who?” ready on his lips. But something in him registered the distress on his son’s face, and he paused.

“Think no more of her. You have no more need than I for the faint-hearted and the untrue; if she did you no other good she did this at least: freeing you from the burden of another’s doubt.”

“I can’t tell if you mean this to be comforting,” said Maglor, “or if you think I shouldn’t need comfort. I’m sure I won’t, soon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Go not to Fëanor for family therapy, for he will make things 1000% worse. I thought about having him add some bitter words about Nerdanel here (who has assuredly left him by this point) but there wasn't room.


	8. Maedhros and Morgoth

“What, my prince! You were not wont to be so grave on a feast day!” The speaker was an Ainu, that was clear enough – all shifting light and pleasing color behind the shape that he had thrown on as a courtesy to the eyes of the Eldar. “Is it your father’s quarrel that troubles you? Be at peace! Surely the Valar will never let strife grow unchecked between noble Finwë’s two noble sons.”

“ _Noble Finwë_ ,” said Maedhros shortly, “has three noble sons. And I was not aware the Valar had readmitted you to their counsels.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Technically I suppose this doesn't quite answer the prompt, since this is clearly Maedhros and Melkor. But Melkor got around while he was doing his serpent-in-Eden thing among the Noldor (spreading gossip and doing that thing "Did they REALLY say [thing-that-is-almost-but-not-quite-what-they-actually-said]")
> 
> Also his reference to "Noble Finwë" is an attempted backhand at Arafinwë, who hasn't taken a side in this quarrel. What a scumbag.


	9. Sam and Thingol

So Old Mayor Gardner left the Shire for good, and sailed to the land beyond the sunset where all the stories are true. There he met the Man in the Moon, they say, and the King Under the Mountain, and the Great White Dog who saved the Princess Lucy. But one night he met the Fairy King himself, tall as a hill and just as grey. I am sure you would be shaking in your boots, but nothing scared Old Mayor Gardner.

But the Fairy King smiled at him, and shook his hand. “I also am a gardener,” he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like to think Elanor wrote this.
> 
> At some point they'll also end up talking about the daughters they cherish and will never see again. (Or, in Sam's case, maybe he will! benefits of mortality!)


	10. Lindis and Elrond

“For help, I guess,” she said, “why does anyone come to you?” As soon as the words were out she regretted them; she had meant to be lighthearted, but her tone was as still as ill-controlled as her balance. Elrond did not seem to take it amiss. Perhaps he had seen enough of the battle-wounded.

“I can’t do anything for your eye,” he said gently, “but for the head-wound, I can—"

“That’s not it – we have _healers_ in Eregion – it’s your help I need, your…”

He waited. “

What does it mean,” she said, miserably, “to be the one who lives?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lindis is an OC from "These Gifts That You Given Me"/"In Full Measure I Return To You". In the latter - which is the AU this snippet references - she's the sole survivor of the Gwaith-i-Mirdain after Celebrimbor destroys the city in defeating Sauron.


	11. Míriel and Maedhros

They came looking for him in the Halls of the Dead, the ones who had loved him. His kinsmen, his sworn followers, even the proud shade of his father. He remained silent and unseen. The person they remembered was not him, and so they could not see the one they sought. Only the iron eye of impartial Mandos rested on him, and Mandos asked nothing of him and offered nothing to him save name and knowledge:  _Maedhros Self-Slain._

So when he felt the awareness of another spirit upon him, he recoiled.

“You don’t have to explain yourself to anyone,” said Míriel, looking straight at him, “and certainly not to me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Míriel knows exactly what it means to choose death - if it can be called choice, when one has run out of other choices.


	12. Míriel Þerindë and Faramir

He wandered, as it seemed, through darkened halls, always alone though he heard distant voices. At last he saw a pale lady, seated at a loom.

“Your pardon, Lady,” he said, and could not hear his own voice. “I was Faramir, son of Denethor, Steward of Gondor-“

“No,” said the woman, “you are dying, not dead.”

“Then this is a dream?”

“It will be,” she said, and stood aside from the tapestry. He saw the Witch-King fallen, and a tangle of bright hair.

“She too is dying,” said the weaver, “but not dead; perhaps you may tell her so.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Míriel has a good deal of understanding of the sickness that's on Eowyn.


	13. Maeglin and Maedhros

“I envied you your scars,” said Maeglin abruptly. “You were the only one I had to look to, when I left the Enemy’s hands, and I’d never seen you. But everyone spoke of Maedhros Left-Handed, who survived the Enemy’s torments –"

“Who was rescued,” said Maedhros. 

“They said later the Enemy never touched me. I told myself that, over and over, because I could, because there were no scars… I did not break; princes of the Noldor do not break. I took a bargain; I was wicked, not weak. I must have wanted Idril; would I betray a kingdom for her otherwise?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This obvious takes place post-Mandos; eventually Maedhros will get around to pointing out to Maeglin that he is also a notorious traitor to his own people; he broke too, just to the Oath rather than to Morgoth. It worked the same way, though: making you choose your own path, every step downward. Crushing you with the constant pressure to tell yourself "Surely this is what I wanted, surely I chose this, surely this is worth it. Would I do such dreadful things otherwise?"


	14. Finrod and Ar-Pharazôn

There is something that sleeps beneath the Foothills of Defense around Tirion, something that lies waiting in the hollow hills. And Finrod the Golden, Finrod Cave-Hewer, Finrod who could never leave well enough alone, lay down one night on a grassy sward, and sent his thought beneath the hallowed earth.

In his dream he came to a vast cave, where lay a great host of mortal men, armed and armored, fast asleep. As if on a bier lay a figure like a king, his face strong and cruel even in sleep.

“Who are you?” said Finrod to himself, and the King’s eyes snapped open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you just start the apocalypse, Finrod?
> 
> Frankly more should be done with the fact that there is an apparently an army of sleeping mortal warriors beneath the undisturbed soil of the Blessed Realm!


	15. Curufin and Celegorm

“North’s out,” said Celegorm gloomily, looking at the enemy watchfires in the pass. “So’s the west; South then, to Ambarussa.”

“You may prefer the life of a squirrel in the Nandorin treetops,” said Curufin, “I am taking our people somewhere with indoor plumbing. Or at least with doors. Our cousin…”

“What, his legendary lost city? I’m sure we’ll succeed where Morgoth’s armies have failed. You don’t happen to have one of Turgon’s old socks, do you? I’ll tell Huan to track it down-“

“Shut up,” said Curufin absently, “I’m talking about Finrod; his city is about as secret as the torch our other cousin carries for Maedhros.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Assuming they're both still alive, of course, which after the Dagor Bragollach is a big assumption. Still, they'd have felt if Maedhros died, right?
> 
> Right?


	16. Celegorm and Huan

_Not-right,_ said the Dog. _Not-right. The good woman is unhappy, the sweet-smelling woman is trapped, you’ll let her out, out, out, come on._

“Restless, aren’t you? I’ll take you out with us again today,” said his master. Yes? Hunt? Good dog.

 _I hear you,_ said the Dog, _don’t you hear me? Good Master, I know you will help, just come with me._

“Get on, Huan,” said his master, and tossed him a scrap from his pouch.

 _I would be loath,_ said the Dog with his eloquent eyes, _to impute unto one so good an action so base. The error must be mine._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huan spoke with human speech three times in his life. Celegorm might have been resentful that none of those occasions were to him - except that he knew the speech of beasts, and could speak with Huan in his own tongue. Until, of course, he stopped listening.


	17. Veanne and Maedhros

“It wasn’t –"

“Don’t say it wasn’t my fault – you of all people, don’t say it!”

“I never would,” said Maedhros gravely.

“I was hoping you would judge me,” she said, her grey eyes glittering, “to be honest. Since you’re one of the few who has the right. You refused the Enemy, when I surrendered. You denied him what he wanted, but I –”

“I shall judge you,” he said, “if you wish it, but if you accept my right to judge you, you must accept also my right to forgive you. I do not give with one hand only!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Veanne is an OC from "These Gifts That You Have Given Me" - a Noldorin thrall of Morgoth who served as an overseer over other thralls. She lives into the Second Age and perishes in the Fall of Eregion, and now - eventually - an indefinite period in the future - has to face Aman.


	18. Berúthiel and Thuringwethil

“Ah. You’ve brought me another of your little presents, Greymalkin.” The cat stalked away, tail high.

Berúthiel bent to examine the furry bundle. It wasn’t quite dead; sometimes her messengers’ offerings weren’t. “Not a mouse…” She prodded it with her gold hair-stick; one leathery wing stuttered open. “Not a bat either, though. Why don’t you show me your true form, little shadow?”

Something laughed in her mind. “Do you set so little store by your own sanity, mortal queenlet? I am old, old, and fallen from what I was, yet I think you would not ask if you knew me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If Sauron could survive the loss of the Ring, surely Thuringwethil could survive the loss of her skin?


	19. Celebrimbor and Elrond

As he cradled his creation in his hand, the shadow of sorrow seemed to lift from his face, and for a moment Elrond saw the Ring-Maker as he had known him in the Noontide of Eregion.

“It is yours again,” said Elrond. “If you want it. If it would help.”

“I don’t,” Celebrimbor said, “and it wouldn’t. But that was kindly done. I thank you for it. And –” He paused, as if listening, “—and I am sorry. You bore much, bearing Vilya. Knowing that a door opens into your heart, and on the other side Sauron is waiting…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place after Elrond has sailed into the West, with Vilya on his finger. The bearers of the Three wielded their power, but understood their dreadful vulnerability - something Celebrimbor is in a good position to empathize with.


	20. Fëanáro and Arafinwë

“Would you sound the Sea-Elves in this matter, Arafinwë? How does their disposition stand to build great ships, fit for the journey to the wild shores of our ancient home?”

It was hard for Fëanor to call any expression that crossed that calm face  _critical,_  yet Finarfin looked critically at him.

“For mighty ventures and great voyages you shall find the hearts of the Singers ever eager. To serve as pawns and cats-paws in a brothers’ quarrel, you shall find them no more eager than you find me. You do know Nolofinwë asked me the same thing two weeks ago?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "For two who are at each other's throats, have you noticed you want precisely the same thing?"  
> "What, to return to Middle-Earth?"  
> "No. Finwë's love."
> 
> (Whichever of his sons Finwë loves best, Finarfin is pretty sure it isn't _him_.)


	21. Fingon and Turgon

“Are you re-gaming the First Age?” said Turgon, dangling his legs in the water. The city he ruled now was in the middle of a lake, open to all of Aman.  “Must you?”

“I think I should have abdicated,” said Fingon, putting his feet up against a tree-trunk and lying back in the grass. “You would have made a better High King than I did.”

“How would I even have known you had done it? I was in Gondolin the whole time!”

“Yes, well, I’m still on what  _I_ should have done. I haven’t gotten to what  _you_ should have done yet.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fingon is not being entirely serious. Fingon will require a good Age or so before he feels like being entirely serious again.


	22. Fingon and Finrod

“So,” said Finrod, with a cheerfulness that seemed almost unforced, “what did you dream, cousin?”

“Oh!” Fingon yawned in the crisp morning air. “So I was in Nevrast and Uncle Finarfin was there, and I was so glad to see that he’d come and I tried to explain everything that had happened, only I was a horse, which was a problem, and then I was back in Tirion and giving a recitation before Grandfather Finwë’s court, only I looked down and saw I was naked and it wasn’t even the Rites of Nessa—"

“I’ve learned to ask, you see,” said Finrod, stretching.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in case Fingon is thinking of building a hidden city somewhere!


	23. Finrod and Galadriel

“You told me long ago,” she said, wiping her eyes, “that nothing would remain of your realm for a son to inherit.”

“There, Artanis, was I wrong?”

“You said you had to be free to go into darkness. But that is not the dreadful thing about having children. The dreadful thing is that they are free also to go into darkness. Findaráto –”

“Oh, little sister,” Finrod pulled her close to comfort her, though she stood half a head taller than he did. “Celebrian is  _here_ , we’ve been caring for her, she’s well –”

“Findaráto. My granddaughter – your grandniece – is mortal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finrod is suddenly experiencing a number of intense and contradictory emotions. Mortals? He LOVES mortals! How amazing to be actually related to one! But wait! This means he will never meet his grand-niece! And his poor sister!


	24. Naugwen and Ingwë

The last notes died away and at a nod from the King of the Vanyar, the musicians set down their instruments. Naugwen put a hand to her face to find it wet with tears.

“It’s certainly a – a beautiful way to name the elements of matter,” she said, “and systematic too. But it does require an entire orchestra to express the vibrational frequency signature of each element.”

“Is that a bad thing?” inquired Ingwë, who spoke chiefly in questions and gestures.

“Perhaps not! That’s the one thing everyone’s told me since my arrival: nothing in Aman needs to be done quickly.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Naugwen's an OC from "These Gifts You Have Given Me", a chemist of the Gwaith-i-Mirdain who invented the periodic table of elements in Middle-Earth. She also can't use her legs, owing to pre-natal poisoning by Morgoth, a disability that she keeps when she eventually returns to life in the Blessed Realm. This is the occasion for much consternation among certain segments of the population, and at some level she was expecting Ingwe to remark on it. But there's a reason Ingwë is a King - he can tell what needs healing and what doesn't.


	25. Fingolfin and Manwë

It is said that when the first cohort of the Dead left the halls of Mandos, that the High King Fingolfin climbed alone up Taniquetil. When he began to faint in the upper airs, the Elder King came to him, and he was revived, and looked down upon Arda with the eyes of Manwë Sulimo.

“Is it beautiful yet?” he said, his voice heavy with bitterness. “Is evil yet turned to good, as you said, or must we wait longer?”

“It is not waiting alone,” said Manwë, “that draws forth good from ill.”

“What is, then?”

“I was hoping you would tell me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As Mandos points out, it's not that evil goes away in order to become good! Drawing forth good from evil is a continuous process, an ongoing work, and sometimes that work is waiting, and sometimes it isn't. Manwe is as new at this as anyone, and he knows that the Children know more of this than he.


	26. Annatar and Curumo

“To Numenor, I,” said Curumo, frowning. “There is the head and the heart of this trouble in the world of Men. Numenor must be great, but it need not build its greatness on the back of the Men of Darkness. I will speak with Tar-Telemmaite of this. So Olorin and Aiwendil to the North, Alatar and Pallando to the East, you to the South, and thus the Wise are disposed.” He looked to Annatar. “I assume that where you go, the…your companion goes also.”

“I will go,” said Annatar, smiling, “wherever the head of our Order deems best. Tyelperinquar?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be very confusing to anyone who hasn't read "In Full Measure I Return To You" - in short, a redeemed Sauron is here part of the Istari, and Seven rather than Five emissaries of the Valar are sent to Middle-Earth. (Although if you ask Curumo it's six emissaries plus one elf; and Annatar never tires of contradicting him by treating Celebrimbor as the head of the expedition)


	27. Finwe and Finarfin

“We see you so rarely in Tirion,” Finwë said; the reproach was mild but undeniable.

“I prefer the shadows of the coasts,” said his youngest son, “the sea-air, the wave-song, and you can see the stars… Father, do you not grow tired of playing games of keep-away with your sons at court? Come to Alqualondë, sport with us on the shore! At least there you won’t be cast in the role of the football.”

Finwë sighed. “Fëanáro and Nolofinwë are much more alike than different, if only they could see it… That’s not a bad idea of yours – games of some sort. Perhaps I’ll call a festival.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finarfin's not sure how deliberately his father missed the point there. At some level Finwe knows he has to play this game out to the end - even as the football.


	28. Finwë and Thingol

“This was not,” said the shade of Elu Thingol, “how I thought to return to the Blessed Realm.”

“How else were you expecting to get here, since you declined the Sea-Lord’s kind offer of transportation?” In life Finwë had been strong and merry and high-hearted; sorrow had tempered his joy and death had rendered it a memory. But there in the presence of his oldest friend, that memory was strong, and Finwe stood in the lightless halls of Death as if he were still a young king in the dark and pathless woods of Middle-Earth. “We rather thought we’d be the ones to come to you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some time I'd like to write - or read! - a fic about their first journey to Valinor together, where they saw the light of the Trees.


	29. Curufin and Galadriel

“My brother told me you’d come to an understanding,” Galadriel said, “the terms of which precluded me from punching you in the face.” She laughed quietly and ruefully. “I think he underestimates what three Ages in Middle-Earth does… Be welcome, Son of Fëanor. I have seen so many worse things than you.”

“I know,” said Curufin. “That’s why I came to talk to you. My – my child was also taken by the Enemy. I’m not offering pity – though it’s yours, if you want it – or a listening ear – though I will, if you wish it. I just wanted to say – they can be whole again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The understanding that Galadriel refers to is Curufin and Finrod talking things out in "Beyond the Western World."
> 
> Until this prompt I'd never considered that both Galadriel and Curufin lost children to Sauron. Thanks.


	30. Eöl and Aragorn

Carefully he raised the black sword from among the relics of Gondolin, and hefted it in his hand. “And you are like to Gurthang of old!” he said. “Haply I might bear you to a fairer fate, though like the Mormegil I must walk by a thousand ways and go by a hundred names…”

_Who are you?_ said a cold voice in his head.

He could not deny a name so newly claimed. “Estel I was,” he said, “and Aragorn I am, and shall be more hereafter. Who asks?”

_The Unmated_ , hissed the sword,  _and the Forsaken. Eöl am I, and Eöl’s work. Has my time come?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eöl made two black meteorite-swords, and his second, Anguirel, was stolen by Maeglin and brought to Gondolin. We know for sure that some of Gondolin's weapons made it to Imladris, and surely Aragorn was offered his pick of the armory and treasure-house when he set off on his adventures...
> 
> Don't take the cursed sword, Aragorn.


	31. Fingon and Fëanor

Fëanor set the new-wrought harp on the table. “Jewelry is the traditional gift from the groom’s father,” he said briskly, “but receiving a jewel at my hand might overcharge your patience. Besides, I’m late.”

Fingon put a hand to the strings, and they sang out silver at his touch.

“Ever have I left things half-done,” he said quietly. “A dragon only partly killed, a prince only partly rescued…”

“I will hear nothing of the sort from you!” said Fëanor. “Say rather that you began a work, and if it fell to others to take it up, still it was your courage that let them try.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that everyone has at long last returned from the darkness of Mandos, Feanor will not hear a PEEP against his perfect son-in-law - who was, per "Though All Ye Have Slain May Entreat For You" instrumental in Maedhros's return.


	32. Fëanor and Aredhel

“I was FINE,” protested the small child, wriggling and scattering soot all over the floor.

“I’m sure you were,” said Fëanor, “but I’m lighting the furnaces and so I needed the vents clear.”

“I would have kept on climbing until I reached the roof,” explained Aredhel, “and then if it was the south side of the roof I could have swung down by the vines and gotten into Turko’s window, and if it was the west where it’s all steep I would make my hands like this and climb up past the roof-tree and if it was the north side I would have just jumped.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's amazing Aredhel survives her childhood. And Feanor's not helping; it doesn't even occur to him to tell her not to climb up chimneys.


	33. Galadriel and Aredhel

“Turgon’s city,” said her cousin, “not yours?”

“Face it, Artanis, if we called it my city there’d be only a handful of people who’d dare come!” She scratched her ear with something that looked distressingly like a spider claw. “Are you sure you don’t want to join us? You were always the one who was on about building kingdoms, and here you are hiding out with the Dark-Elves in someone else’s court.”

“And you,” returned Galadriel, “never shut up about not skulking behind walls.”

“It won’t be like that,” said Aredhel. “You’ll see. Or you would, if you’d come with me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a highly unauthorized conversation.


	34. Fingolfin and Maedhros

“I thought you might stay here with us in Hithlum,” Fingolfin said carefully, “to command the armies of the Noldor.”

“Is it not enough, Uncle, that you are my sovereign? Must you also be my general?”

“Emotional manipulation’s more your brother’s line,” said Fingolfin, unperturbed. “The Noldor are united, but imperfectly: the break is splinted but the bone not knit. If our peoples see you at my side, my lieutenant, then they might be one indeed.”

Maedhros considered carefully. “I believe that the unity of the Noldor will be best served by allowing them to disperse – and their safety, by allowing me watch on Angband.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love how in the Silmarillion narrative Fingolfin and Maedhros are both clearly regarded as centers of authority. Fingolfin's not wrong about Maedhros's military abilities, but Maedhros is not wrong about serving the Noldor best by keeping his brothers in line.


	35. Aredhel and Idril

“We thought you were –”

“Dead, I know,” said Aredhel wearily.

“No, we thought you’d been taken by Morgoth! Father kept saying that he’d know if you were dead, unless you were behind the gates of Angband. I didn’t think so, necessarily – we don’t even know half of what the things in Nan Dungortheb are; you might have been wrapped up in a spider’s web being slowly digested… Father didn’t send out search parties. But I did.”

“You?”

“Not so Father knew, but I spoke to the heads of the scouting parties. I have years of notes. And no trace.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idril was initially rather hurt by her aunt's abandonment, but was able to reason that it wasn't because she was tired of her, but because she was possibly being slowly devoured by a spider.


	36. Caranthir and Haleth

“A late morn it is indeed,” said the Elf-Lord, “and a slow-rising sun, that shows me what valor there is in ye mortals. Yet better is the morn that comes late than the one that never dawns. Daughter of Haldad, your deeds this day have won you fame that shall outlast your years, and the –"

“Nope,” said Haleth, squinting conspicuously at him. “You can’t be Nom. Nom’s supposed to be hot.”

“The lord of this land am I, Morifinwe Carnistir, called Caranthir by –”

“Lord?! Well, my lord, your home’s not fit for guests. Look at it! It’s infested with orcs!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Haladin don't hold with Lords, generally; the closest they get are heads of households.


	37. Aredhel and Elwing

"Don’t shoot,” said the bird.

“I won’t,” said Aredhel. “I’ve been shot; I don’t recommend it.”

There was a shifting in the light and a flutter of wings, and another white-robed woman stood before her, perched on the edge of the sea rock and swaying slightly as she gripped it with her toes. The two regarded each other.

“No way to win, really,” mused Aredhel, “whether you jump towards death or away from it.”

“Strange,” said Elwing, “I wouldn’t have guessed winning was what was on your mind, Noldo.”

“It wasn’t,” Aredhel admitted. “Nothing so complex. Yours?”

“Nothing so simple.”


	38. Celebrimbor and Sméagol

“Not his, no, no, not yours. It was mine, my birthday-present. The Precious remembers, yes it does, remembers you, my friend, false, false, the false elf with the cruel eyes. No, no, my love, it’s my birthday and we wants it. You had no hand in it, it’s mine. Stop looking at me!

“Base? Debased? Smeagol doesn’t know that word. Why would he look like that at poor Smeagol, why would he say such things? It’s not me you’re looking at. Go away!

Yes, yes, he was my friend, so why was he so cruel? Ach! What did you do with his body, Gollum, Gollum?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This conversation is being held with Celebrimbor as Sauron-via-the-Ring remembers him - a memory that in Gollum's fractured mind has fused with that of his own murdered friend.


	39. Sam and Yavanna

“Well, bless me!” said Sam. “So there are hobbits here after all! Samwise Gardner, madam, at your service.”

“We have met,” said the kind-faced hobbit woman, taking his hand, “though perhaps you did not know me then. I wear this shape in your honor, Samwise, and for your comfort.”

“Oh dear,” said Sam. “That does seem to be the way of things here!” He brushed off his waistcoat and attempted to compose himself. “Might I ask your name?”

“I am the Harvest,” said the woman, “I am Withering and Ripening. I have come to you, my child, because your time draws near."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yavanna, as the Power of the Earth and it's creatures, is also the Power of natural death.


	40. Míriel Therinde and Námo

"Life?” said the Judge. “Do you then repent your will to remain here? Would you unsay those words which you spoke before the Powers, when you first came to these halls?”

“The words that you demanded of me?” said the small, bright-edged spirit. “No. I do not repent them. I would not unsay them. I look with the eyes of History upon the woman who came to these halls, and I neither blame her for her error nor do I believe that she could have done otherwise. But am I a servant of yours, Namo, that my words once spoken are unalterable law?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Míriel is defending the difficult but necessary point: both "take me at my word" and "allow me to grow."


	41. Fëanor and Maedhros

Maedhros took both of his father’s hands in his. _We have both been in Mandos long enough to see ourselves with eyes unclouded and we should never have left if we did not know our deeds in their fullest consequence; besides, if one of us begins to apologize, the other will begin as well, and we shall be here unweaving old hurts until the Battle of Battles, unless one of us loses patience and knocks the other to the floor._

Fëanor met his eyes, and Maedhros could see that he had reached the same conclusion at precisely the same time.

“I’ve made breakfast,” he said.


	42. Celebrían & Gil-galad

“I don’t know if you’re the closest thing he has to a father,” said Celebrian, leaning forward with both hands on the table, “but you’re certainly the closest thing I have to his father. So what is it that’s holding him back?”

“The Eldar wed not in time of war,” the King quoted.

“Oh please. That’s a saw for the flame-eyed of Aman; neither you nor I – nor he, for that matter! – would be here if our parents had paid it the slightest attention.”

“It’s no small thing,” said Gil-Galad, “to lose a spouse. A child. Even for us of the Twilight.”


End file.
